The Commons
Environmental Law and Policy Clinic
Protecting children from lead in water
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he Environmental Law and Policy Clinic played a leading role in the development of a rule recently adopted by the North Carolina Commission for Public Health that will help protect young children from hazardous lead exposure. The rule, which took effect on Oct. 1, requires state-licensed child care centers to test for lead in water used for cooking and drinking. “Under the previous approach, a child must be poisoned before the source of contamination is identified and mitigated,” said Clinical Professor Michelle Nowlin JD/MA ’92, the clinic co-director. “This regulatory gap may result in the exposure of hundreds of children to lead, albeit at levels lower than the outdated statutory threshold for ‘poisoning,’ and highlights a distinct need for focused regulatory attention on health standards as opposed to corrosion control for drinking water.” The new
rule would help close that gap for the youngest and most vulnerable children, she said. More than 230,000 babies and young children attend licensed child care centers in North Carolina. Fifteen clinic students from the Law School and the Nicholas School of the Environment contributed research as the rule was being developed, working closely with the clinic’s client, NC Child, as well as personnel at the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services and the N.C. Licensed Child Care Association and scientists at RTI International. They helped to identify and articulate the gaps in regulatory coverage and the associated health challenges, researched possible legislative and regulatory approaches and mitigation strategies, drafted the proposed rule language and fiscal note, and advocated for the rule’s adoption through formal written and oral comments. d
Civil Justice Clinic
Breaking new ground with settlement of federal discrimination lawsuit against housing authority
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he Civil Justice Clinic and Legal Aid of North Carolina recently settled a federal discrimination complaint filed against the Raleigh Housing Authority (RHA) on behalf of a public housing tenant who was a victim of domestic violence. The settlement includes a Federal Consent Decree believed to be the first in the country to address a landlord’s obligations under the Federal Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which requires housing authorities to provide specific housing protections for tenants who are victims of domestic violence. The tenant was the victim of multiple crimes at her housing unit, including violence perpetrated by an ex-boyfriend who strangled her; a home intruder who threatened her guest at gunpoint; and armed men who shot bullets into her apartment. In the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina in 2018, the tenant alleged that RHA violated VAWA and the Federal Fair Housing Act by denying her repeated requests for an emergency transfer to a safe location. The resolution includes entry of a perma-
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Duke Law Magazine • Fall 2019
nent mandatory injunction against the RHA and relocation of the family to a new housing unit at a confidential location. “We are very pleased with the results for our client and her children, and we hope that this consent decree will serve to highlight to public housing authorities across the country their obligations to comply with VAWA and fair housing laws,” said Clinical Professor Charles Holton ’73, director of the Civil Justice Clinic, who served as co-counsel in the case. In addition to the federal action, the clinic represented the client in two separate lawsuits filed in N.C. Superior Court and in one interlocutory appeal to the N.C. Court of Appeals regarding sovereign immunity issues. Eight clinic students have assisted with litigation on behalf of the tenant over the past two-and-a-half years, most recently Hannah Elson ’20, Charles White ’20, and Katarina Weessies ’21, who are currently enrolled. Clinic students assisted with preparation of pleadings, briefing and preparing for multiple motion hearings, preparation of and responding to extensive written discovery, taking depositions, and conducting mediations. d
